ound and
finally dug up the hat, white as new-fallen snow.

"Here's a hat--found it in th' dough barrel," he announced, handing it
over to Frenchy, who received it in open-mouthed stupefaction.

"Yu pie-makin' pirate! Yu didn't know where my lid was, did yu! Yu
cross-eyed lump of hypocrisy!" yelled Frenchy, dusting off the flour
with one full-armed swing on the cook's face, driving it into that
unfortunate's nose and eyes and mouth. "Yu white-washed Chink, yu--rub
yore face with water an' yu've got pancakes."

"Hey! What you doin'!" yelled the cook, kicking the spot where he had
last seen Frenchy. "Don't yu know better'n that!"

"Yu live close to yoreself or I'll throw yu so high th' sun'll duck,"
replied Frenchy, a smile illuminating his face.

"Hey, cookie," remarked Hopalong confidentially, "I know who put up this
joke on yu. Yu ask Billy who hid th' hat," suggested the tease. "Here he
comes now--see how queer he looks."

"Th' mournful Piute," ejaculated the cook. "I'll shore make him wish
he'd kept on his own trail. I'll flavor his slush [coffee] with year-old
dish-rags!"

At this juncture Billy ambled up, keeping his weather eye peeled for
trouble. "Who's a dish-rag?" He queried. The cook mumbled something
about crazy hens not knowing when to quit cackling and climbed up in his
wagon. And that night Billy swore off drinking coffee.

When the dawn of the next day broke, Hopalong was riding toward the
Black Hills, leaving Billy to untie himself as best he might.

The trip was uneventful and several weeks later he entered Red Dog, a
rambling shanty town, one of those western mushrooms that sprang up in a
night. He took up his stand at the Miner's Rest, and finally secured
six claims at the cost of nine hundred hard-earned dollars, a fund
subscribed by the outfits, as it was to be a partnership affair.

He rode out to a staked-off piece of hillside and surveyed his purchase,
which consisted of a patch of ground, six holes, six piles of dirt and
a log hut. The holes showed that the claims bad been tried and found
wanting.

He dumped his pack of tools and provisions, which he had bought on the
way up, and lugged them into the cabin. After satisfying his curiosity
he went outside and sat down for a smoke, figuring up in his mind how
much gold he could carry on a horse. Then, as he realized that he could
get a pack mule to carry the surplus, he became aware of a strange
presence near at hand and looked up into